Comparison of the achievement in knowledge and understanding accomplished by non-STEM students in a distance Biological Sciences course with the assistance of technology, with that obtained by students who took the face-to-face course.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29197/cpu.v19i37.450Keywords:
Biological Sciences Course, General Studies, “non-STEM” students, emergency remote teachingAbstract
The Science, Biotechnology, and Society course is offered to non-STEM students as part of the Natural Sciences component in General Studies. This Biological Sciences course is intended to contribute to the formation of the individual as a social entity, with a background of updated scientific knowledge that allows them to integrate and participate in the development of a dynamic society in aspects of research and technology. It seeks to carry out an active and dialogical teaching-learning process. Due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, it has been required to offer the course in a distance mode with the assistance of technology. This has led to changes in the format and dynamics of the class, and most notably in the laboratory component. In order to know how these changes could affect the students' achievement of knowledge and understanding of concepts, topics, procedures and techniques that are discussed in class and the laboratory, the participants took a pre and posttest. This test consists of 25 items on the following topics: I Scientific Method, II DNA Structure and processes, III Recombinant DNA and transgenics, IV Stem Cells and cloning and V Fundamentals in DNA technology. The sample consists of 29 students (class section from August to December 2020 or autumn semester) and is compared with the data obtained for students who took the face-to-face course prior to the pandemic (published data). The results show significant differences between both samples of students, being that of the students in the remote course the one with the lowest achievement in four of the five topics evaluated. Possible aspects that could have affected the achievement of students in the remote teaching course are described and possible transformative actions that could contribute to better student performance in this course format are discussed.
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